Wednesday, August 24, 2011

On bathroom design and bigotry

A lot of people laugh at so-called uncultured Chinese people who don't know how to use western toilets. They're used to squat toilets, so they get on top of the western toilets, squat, and do their business. Apparently, when mainland Chinese started visiting Hong Kong in volume, they were breaking western toilets all over the place due to their incessant squatting.

I wonder what these so-called uncultured Chinese people think about western folks trying to use Chinese-style squat toilets. Believe me, it sucks, and I try to avoid it whenever possible. You need huge amount of muscle and flexibility in the right areas to be able to maintain your balance and still do your business. Otherwise, you end up with horrible mishaps.

I had an emergency the other day. I needed a toilet fast. Of course, there were only squat toilets in the supermarket where I was shopping. I was able to prove to myself that I've developed the right muscle and flexibility in the right areas to do the deed. But it still did not end well.

You know what? I wanted to talk about this somehow, as a form of therapy for all the trauma. But now... I realize I don't want to talk about it. Besides being very embarrassing, continuing to remember it is only further traumatizing. And besides that, it would probably be traumatizing for you too.

One note. I wonder how much money companies make from those tissue vending machines in all those public washrooms. I'm guessing not much. I think it's only the stupid foreigners who can't remember to carry tissue in public.

Who is PakG1?

I'm a Vancouver Canuck fan now living across the pond in China. My interests include disruption, global trends, Go (also known as Baduk or Weiqi), information asymmetry, games, innovation, languages, reading, skiing, and volunteering.